This relates generally to imaging devices for capturing three-dimensional (3D) images.
A three-dimensional camera includes at least two imaging lenses that capture two different views of an imaged object. Both of these views may then be captured by two different image sensors or by different portions of a single image sensor. Then these two images are used to create the appearance of a three-dimensional object using a stereo pair.
However, a problem results when the lenses are not in the same horizontal orientation as the viewer's eyes. That is, when the imaging device is turned to a non-horizontal angle, such as a vertical angle, and the user is viewing the scene from a horizontal orientation, the resulting images may be improperly aligned for 3D viewing.
For example, if you want to take a whole body shot of a person with a standard 3D camera, you may turn the camera 90 degrees to place the long or landscape edge in a vertical or portrait orientation. This puts the two separate lenses in a vertical orientation, which does not match the viewer's horizontally positioned eyes. To view the image as a proper stereo pair, the viewer would need to either turn his or her head to a very unnatural “eyes vertical” position or turn the display such that the stereo pair is horizontal, even though the subject of the picture is now rotated 90 degrees.